Route details
Description
This circuit brings together the 9 circuits of the Third Millennium Municipal Road. To close the loop, he still has to build a path that crosses the marshes of Saint-Rémy and Bessines. The latter is currently still being finished and marked out. This is why you will find a “hole” on the course!
Niort – The municipal path of the 3rd Millennium
Distance:70,8 km
Your itinerary
Step 1: Gardens of the Breach

1st prize in the national Victoires du Paysage 2014 competition, in the Urban Public Space category. La Brèche, after hosting agricultural fairs from 1750 to 1972, then a roundabout with a parking lot in the middle, has become the green lung of downtown Niort thanks to its gardens created between 2012 and 2013. It takes the name a breach opened in the urban wall during a flood; the Bouillounouse stream forming a basin at its base and flooding during heavy rains. Have you found the statuette representing the Chinese Lao Tzu, founding father of Taoism? It is a nod to Jean-François Milou, one of the two architects of the current Brèche, who resided in Singapore until 2015 as project manager of the National Gallery of Art. This East Asian city-state is a garden city where the Chinese community still reveres the philosopher.
Step 2: Former savings bank of Niort
Help and mutuality are specific to the 1835th century. Against a contribution, workers and employees with modest incomes benefit from social protection in times of great need. The law of XNUMX obliges philanthropic societies to deposit their reserves in the Caisses d'Epargne.
That of Niort, founded the same year, but decided in 1833 by the mayor, was first installed at the Town Hall until 1850 with an initial municipal capital of 4000 francs. and an additional contribution of 6000 fr. following the appeal for charity from notable people in the city.
Then, she took up residence in a building built in 1892 by the Niort architect Georges Lasseron; headquarters of Socram Bank since 2014. The decoration, like that of many similar buildings, is ostentatious, whereas they were only places for storing all the funds of modest savers.
Step 3: Barbeque at Porte Saint-Jean

In the Middle Ages, the city was surrounded by ramparts. Two main streets cross it: rue Saint-Gelais and rue Saint-Jean. They each end with a city gate protected by a barbican, an advanced bastion pierced with loopholes. Only the foundations of the barbecue on Place Saint-Jean are preserved today.
At that time, rue Saint-Jean was a very lively and noisy shopping street, lined with inns and which went down to the old market halls (rue Victor Hugo). It allows the complete crossing of the old town, from South to North. This Paris-La Rochelle axis is followed by pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela coming from Parthenay and who gather in the Saint-Jacques chapel of Notre-Dame de Niort.
Step 4: Saint-Florent district
Saint-Florent once belonged to the election, the lordship and the royal seat of Niort. This former small workers' town of employees of the Rougier plywood factories and the SNCF marshalling yard was attached to the commune of Niort in 1969. Today, the district is home to an industrial zone as well as the racecourse and the golf club of Niort. The former Romagné marshalling yard, named the Negro village because of the smoke from the locomotives which blackened the walls, has today become an intermodular platform making Niort a logistical crossroads for freight trains from the Paris region and the port of La Rochelle.
Step 5: Saint-Florent Church

This former workers' town of employees of the Rougier plywood factories and the SNCF marshalling yard was attached to the commune of Niort in 1969.
Its 11th-12th century church. is built on the edge of the road to St-Jacques de Compostela leading to St-Jean d'Angély. Its high, almost blind facade is pierced by a semi-circular door and is topped by a two-bay comb bell tower. Note the reuse in its masonry of four pre-Romanesque frame-shaped sculptures. Is it the representation of the life of man or that of Saint Florent and two representations of the Annunciation and the Visitation?
Saint Florent, a Roman soldier converted and ordained priest by Saint Martin, lives as a hermit in a cave, near the Loire. According to legend, he restores sight to the blind, heals the crippled and delivers those possessed by demons. He died at the canonical age of 123 at the end of the XNUMXth century.
Step 6: Niort Hospital

This site has always had a hospital vocation since the Middle Ages: The secular chaplaincy of Saint-James from 1204 to 1681 for the reception of pilgrims, the poor and the sick outside the walls of the city.
; The general hospital from 1665 to fight against begging by locking up beggars there.
; The Georges Renon hospital center (*) built from 1924 to 44 and the second largest hospital in France at the time due to its dimensions and modern equipment.
(*) Surgeon, professor and renovator of the Niort hospital from 1905 to 42.
The new hospital, opened in 1983, is today the largest employer in Deux-Sèvres.
You are currently in the courtyard of the cloister of the former convent of the Daughters of Wisdom, managers of the establishment from 1729 to 1977!
Stage 7: Niort-Romagné Racecourse

Founded in 1860, the Niort racing society is one of the oldest associations in Niort. The first races took place in 1879 in the Noron prairie. From 1906, a real racecourse was built on Chemin du Lac. In addition to the track, stands were erected, as well as the goalkeeper's house.
It was in 1986 that an agreement was concluded between the town hall of Niort and the association which donated the site to the community in exchange for a commitment to its maintenance for 50 years.
In the 2000s, €1 million, 80% self-financed, was injected by the company into the development of the site (bar, tower, sandwich shop, additional boxes, changing rooms, hall for taking bets and restaurant).
Tracks have been set up (trotting, flat and obstacle) close to the golf course, which guarantees a carefully maintained environment.
The 5 meetings per year (approximately 40 races) are classified in 2nd category (from 1 to 3).
Stage 8: Niort cheerer

Head of the network of the sports-leisure-health activity center and a major entertainment destination in the Great West.
Inaugurated in 2012, this establishment is a mix of culture and sport in XL format.
Mini-Zénith Niortais from 2.300 seats to 3.500 seats if the public on the floor is standing.
The largest sports hall in Poitou-Charentes. Regional spectator sport: ball game competitions (handball, volleyball, basketball, tennis, table tennis). 3.000 supporters in the stands.
The gymnasium: a shared room for martial arts and fencing (dojo and 4 fencing arenas).
La Verticale: one of the largest artificial climbing walls in France approved for international competitions (16 m high, 42 m long and 5 slopes; definition of around forty routes), grill for climbing for circus and acrobatics practices, retractable stands with 1.000 seats…
Step 9: Niort-Marais Poitevin Aerodrome
At the beginning of the 45th century, the State purchased 7 ha in order to create a maneuvering ground for the XNUMXth Hussard regiment of Niort, replacing the one on the Echiré road which was too small. Then, it was expanded to become an aviation field.
In 1910, the Niortaise Society of Charity Festivals organized Aviation Week, the first regional aviation meeting. Jacques de Lesseps, son of the famous aviator, completed a 1-minute flight after a “majestic” turn above La Brèche.
In 1931, during the big airshow to close the 9th Niort exhibition, Raymond Villechanoux, aerobatics ace from Louis-Blériot, crashed near the first spectators. A memorial monument is erected on site in his memory.
Several personalities have walked its tarmac: President François Mitterrand in 1992, the Dalai Lama in 2004, Prince Albert II of Monaco in 2012...
Step 10: Souchéen vineyard
From the 1th century, the Niort plain was partly covered with vines whose new wines were prized by kings François XNUMXst and Henri IV. Then, production declined until the XNUMXth century. and suffered from the phylloxera crisis at the end of the XNUMXth century.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the southern slope of the Lambon valley was divided into arable land and vineyards producing, according to prefect Dupin, very low quality wines. Before the Second World War, Souché was renowned for its red, rosé and white wines; the crop being treated naturally against diseases with Bordeaux mixture and the planting of dahlias in front of the rows of vines. Like roses, these flowers serve as a preventative in the event of contagion, because they are affected before the vine.
The annual custom was for the distiller's still to be installed on rue du Château d'eau in order to distill the alcohol from the wine.
Step 11: Moujaterie Castle

Viewpoint from Chemin des Roches.
It is the seat of local justice under the Marquisate of Dampierre and the town house of the lord. But perhaps it was an ancient stronghold owned by an abbey; its name derived from moniaterie meaning monk?
In the 17th century, it depended on Jean de la Cassaigne, marshal of the king's armies, then on his son Charles, captain of the Prince of Condé's guards; in the 18th century, from Michel-André de Lavault, merchant in Niort, then from the squire Jacques Grellet of Prades de Fleurelle.
A new castle was built in 1806 near the old stately home. Its theme park was destroyed at the end of the XNUMXth century. All that remains of the most important dovecote in Souché is the base. Divided in two by the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, the estate was later dismantled into lots; the castle transformed into rental apartments at the end of the XNUMXth century.
Step 12: Saint Maixent Church in Souché

Built on the hillside, the Romanesque building belongs to the abbey of St-Maixent and belonged to the archpriest of Exoudun until the French Revolution.
Ravaged during the Wars of Religion, partially restored in the 7th century, it was enlarged at the end of the 800th century. following the increase in the number of Catholics in proportion to the decrease in the number of Protestants. The original vaults collapsed during the work, due to the incompetence of the contractor Fillon, according to the parish, accused of having stored materials on the roof to avoid the trouble and costs to go down and back up and to have removed the stones from the base of a pillar. From XNUMX to XNUMX tiles were removed from the rubble! Its single nave is now framed.
The statue in the bell tower, restored in 1857, represents Saint Maixent housed in a neo-Gothic canopy niche and treading the serpentine fairy Mélusine.
Step 13: Former café-guinguette “Le Robinson”

Until 1960, this restaurant was the venue for the very old Souchean country festival La Balade aux oeufs hard-boiled and with dandelions where free-range eggs were cooked and the previous day's harvest collected by the elders in the meadows and fields was cleaned. around the Lambon river, favoring those grown on the molehills because this gave them a beautiful whiteness. Before and since the end of the XNUMXth century, dinner took place in inns and dancing in barns. The Robinson closed four years later.
The Souchéen comes for Ash Wednesday, the first Wednesday of Lent (time of fasting), to bury Mardi Gras. On the big day, the stores and workshops are closed, the children dressed up, a wooden horse carousel set up, a torchlight procession and a ball organized in the evening.
Taken over in 1979, it was a victim of its success and moved to Noron in 1994.
Step 14: “Le Lambon” stream

Mentioned since the 5th century, this semi-subterranean stream takes its source north of the Mellois plateau, arrives at Souché near the place called Bigoron, winds through the district for XNUMX km, then flows into the Sèvre Niortaise, above Niort; the Vivier fountain, supplying the city, is undoubtedly formed by its resurgences.
In 1962, it was widened due to the narrowness of its bed and the collapse of the bank walls. In 1997, the Association for the Restoration of Lambon and its Tributaries (ARLA) was created, chaired at the time by MP Perrin-Gaillard, who, the following year, recruited a river technician. In 2001, its restoration began, then in 2010, the statutes of the ARLA not allowing the undertaking of works of general interest required by the Water Framework Directive, the Joint Syndicate for the Restoration of Lambon and of its Tributaries (SYRLA).
Step 15: Fleurelle Lodge

Located between the church and the Château de la Seigneurie, the home was the property, in the 1630s, of Antoine Creusé, father of Pierre, a rich Calvinist merchant based in Niort, as well as the house of the bourgeoisie, near Souché and in the family until 1710. Then, in the XNUMXth century, it was the domain of Mr. de la Borde de Saint-Offrange.
The 15th century house. was remodeled in the 19th century. Remains remain: pointed door, spiral staircase, fireplace transformed into a bread oven in the 18th century, vaulted cellar, lintel emblazoned with the keys of St Peter and remains of the double enclosure on Rue du Vieux-Puits.
Its old defense towers from the 16th-17th century. (discovery of cannonballs) are transformed into escapes: these being characteristic of an occupation by an owner who is not of the nobility, because the cannonball holes do not go down to the ground unlike that of Moujaterie.
Step 16: Wheelbarrow Path

To welcome you well: Its 80 cm wide only allows the passage of a hand cart, hence its name, and allows access to the gardens located behind the houses and on the banks of the Lambon.
Mounted without mortar or soil, otherwise the ivy will take hold, its two dry stone walls bordering it are inclined in order to resist the pressure of the earth. Their hats are made of flat stones aligned in a cob. Holes of 40 to 60 cm are used for water drainage in the event of flooding.
In 2016, a participatory reconstruction project was launched with stones from collapsed walls and also from the foundations of the Niort keep.
Step 17: Former priory chapel of Croizé

Cited since 1300, the priory belongs to the order of St-Thomas-des-Croisés, an order of chivalry created by Richard the Lionheart, probably around 1190; falls under the deanery of St-André de Niort and the parish of Sciecq. At the end of the 1608th century, Agrippa d'Aubigné, Baron de Surimeau, seized it. In XNUMX, in order to endow the Niort Oratory, Jacques Gastaud claimed ownership from the Pope who gave him the provisions. During the Revolution, part of the Croisette estate was acquired by Baugier, a bourgeois from Niort. Later it was a farm.
What remains of the priory? A Romanesque chapel; a naively sculpted crucifixion from the 1166th or XNUMXth century, in the form of an altarpiece, on the western facade; a tombstone from the XNUMXth-XNUMXth century. in the floor of the chapel (that of a member of the Lucy family?). Richard de Lucy, close to Henry II, excommunicated by Becket in XNUMX, had a role in his death.
Step 18: The Donkey Mill

The Moulin d'Âne is located Rue du Moulin d'Âne at the entrance to the Pont de Surimeau, connecting the Sainte-Pezenne district to that of Surimeau. The name given to this mill has evolved a lot over the centuries, but it seems that a root, common to all these names, has stood the test of time.
Step 19: Chantemerle Castle

Although its name derives from Canta Merla (a reference to uncultivated lands where agricultural activities are hardly possible, except by listening to blackbirds sing), this former bourgeois agricultural exploitation is part of the great industrial movements of rationalization of mid-19th century. (experimentation of a new art of living in contact with domesticated nature and new agronomic technologies). It responds to a concern for self-sufficiency through the presence of a dairy, a cold room, a bread oven, a water tower, a cooler, etc. (equipment allowing processing and consumption products of the domain).
Purchased in 1990 by the City of Niort, it now houses a leisure center.
The castle is a pastiche of 17th and 18th century architecture. and its park brings together a wood, a plain and a wetland on the edge of the Sèvre.
Step 20: Former abbey of Saint-Liguaire

St-Liguaire comes from Saint Léger, abbot of St-Maixent and bishop of Autun in the 7th century, the local dialect having distorted this name into Léodogaire.
Its Benedictine abbey was founded in 961 by Elbes, abbot of St-Maixent, on the initiative of his brother Guillaume Tête d'Etoupe, 2nd count of Poitou. Its monks cultivated the fertile alluvium of the Sèvre, drained the Bessines marsh and maintained the La Roussille lock.
Rebuilt many times after the Hundred Years and Religious Wars, the monastery was sold in 1791. The 3th century chapter room. is one of its last vestiges and 1962 bone fragments from the only known reliquary (St-Léger-du-Bois, diocese of Angers) were given in XNUMX to the Ste-Marie-Madeleine church at occasion of its millennium.
Also see: the 2 keystones of the Renaissance cloister representing the heads of emperors reused on the portal of the Ste-Macrine school.
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